The FA Clears Up Its Retrospective Decision System

23 August 2013 05:17

Rule changes brought in this season will still not allow retrospective action to be taken against players if they have already been booked for the incident, the Football Association has stressed.

There have been suggestions that Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic could face further disciplinary action after he was booked for catching Aston Villa's Christian Benteke with his arm in midweek.

The FA said that is not the case - only in "truly exceptional" incidents such as Ben Thatcher's challenge on Pedro Mendes in 2006 can further action be taken on incidents where yellow cards have been shown.

The new rule change does allow for retrospective action in cases where the referee's view of an incident has been obstructed and the assistant referees or fourth official are not in a position to judge the challenge.

It was brought in following a tackle by Wigan's Callum McManaman on Newcastle's Massadio Haidara last season where the referee's view of the incident was blocked and the other match officials were not in a position to judge exactly what had occurred.

An FA statement said: "From the start of the 2013-14 campaign, where the referee's view of an incident has been completely obstructed and the assistant referees or fourth official are not in a position such that they could be expected to judge the challenge, based on factors such as their distance from or line of sight to an incident, the FA will be able to take retrospective action.

"Prior to this change, the FA was only able to take retrospective action when none of the match officials had seen the 'coming together' or when the incident was truly exceptional, for example, in the case of Ben Thatcher's challenge on Pedro Mendes."